"In Trafalgar Square this time last year for International Paralympic Day, (there was) a queue of kids who were screaming his name out and wanting autographs.''

But Coe stressed that the medals "are not nailed on for him'' at the Paralympics.

"Sport is at its best when you have head to heads,'' he said.

Coming home

Pistorius has helped shine the spotlight on the Paralympics more than ever before.

"The Paralympic movement has come of age,'' International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven said.

"Having a sellout is amazing. A sellout prior to the games starting is unheard of... it makes you feel good as an athlete.''

Many of the 4,200 athletes from 165 countries will parade in the opening ceremony that will celebrate the visionary doctor who conceived the Paralympics.

"This really is an opportunity to change attitudes and confront some of the misconceptions that are still out there about disability"

LOCOG Chairman Seb Coe

Ludwig Guttmann used sport in the rehabilitation of servicemen injured in World War II, and organised a hospital games at the time of the 1948 London Olympics that evolved from 1960 into the Paralympics.

"Without sounding too nationalistic or even jingoistic about it, it was created here in `48, we drove all the early stages of the movement,'' Coe said.

"A lot of us do feel they are coming home.''

And it's a chance to raise the profile further.

"This really is an opportunity to change attitudes and confront some of the misconceptions that are still out there about disability,'' Coe said.

That's achieved by creating one festival of sport in the summer in London, with the Paralympics the second element, sharing the same "London 2012'' logo.

"We have never treated it as an after show and I think Beijing was a great example of it never being an after show,'' Craven said.